Chowanoc
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| North Carolina | |
| Languages | |
| English, Algonquian (historical) | |
| Religion | |
| Tribal religion (historical) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Coree, Machapunga |
The Chowanoke, also spelled Chowanoc, are an Algonquian-language American Indian tribe who historically inhabited the coastal area of the Upper South of the United States. At the time of the first English contacts in 1585/6, they were the largest and most powerful Algonquian tribe in present-day North Carolina, occupying most or all of the coastal banks of the Chowan River in the northeastern part of the state. Their peoples had occupied their main town since 825 CE. Earlier indigenous cultures occupied the area from 4500 BC.
After warfare, in 1677 English colonists set aside a reservation for the tribe near Bennett's Creek. The Chowanoke suffered high mortality due to infectious disease, including a smallpox epidemic in 1696. Descendants with Chowanoke ancestry survived but merged with other groups, and they lost the last of their communal land in 1821. Chowanoke descendants still live in the state, particularly in Gates and Chowan counties. Through the centuries some families have maintained their Chowanoke identity; others intermarried and gradually identified with other ethnic groups.
In the early 21st century, some descendants have reorganized as a group, known as the Chowanoke Indian Nation. In 2014 they acquired a 146-acre tract of their former reservation land (originally 11,360 acres in 1677) and plan to develop it for a tribal cultural center to aid their revitalization efforts.
The Algonquian peoples who developed in what is now known as North Carolina likely migrated from northern coastal areas, and developed a culture modified by local conditions. The numerous tribes occupied an approximately 6,000-square-mile (16,000 km2) area of Carolina Algonqkian territory in northeastern North Carolina, from the Neuse River to the Chesapeake Bay. Tribes included the Chowanoke, Weapemeoc, Poteskeet, Moratoc, Roanoke, Secotan (Secoughtan), Pomuik, Neusiok, Croatan and possibly the Chesepiooc.
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